Boys of Summer Win Chilly Fenway Opener

BOSTON--The placards distributed outside Gate A of Fenway Park yesterday by the local sports radio station said it all: The Boys are Back.

The 1918 World Series Champion Boston Red Sox made their home season debut yesterday, toying with the Minnesota Twins for nine innings en route to a 13-4 victory on the 100th Opening Day at Fenway Park.

Forget the fact that the game was already won after the second inning. Never mind that the sky was grayer than the Yankees' aging roster, or that the air was colder than the reception received by Roger Clemens the last time he pitched in Boston.

For most of those in attendance yesterday, all that mattered was that baseball had at last returned to the Hub. The fact that the Hometown Heroes actually ended up winning yesterday's home opener was merely the icing on the cake.

For Red Sox nation, Opening Day traditionally marks the resumption of a continuous cycle of skepticism, excitement and imminent disappointment. Late September has constantly tested the mettle of Boston fans, and most every winter has been one of discontent.

Throughout most of the twentieth century, even amateur odds-makers knew that in Boston, there were at least two wagers that you simply did not make--in politics, you never betted on a Kennedy to lose, and in baseball, you never betted on the Red Sox to win.

But with every April springs new hope, and this year, it may actually be justified.

For the first time in eons, the Red Sox have actually been predicted to do well by people who live outside the Greater Boston area. Some brazen souls, including the editors of Sports Illustrated, have gone so far as to predict a World Series championship is in store for the Sox squad.

Yesterday's victory marks the first step on that journey towards ending an 82-year championship drought. The win also marks the first time this year the Sox have prevailed in a game started by someone other than Pedro Martinez.

The team's newest acquisition, center fielder Carl Everett, who had already endeared himself to Sox fans with his anti-Yankee comments voiced during the off-season, went 3-for-4 yesterday with two home runs, earning himself a standing ovation from the sellout crowd.

Everett's first home run of the game, which came in his first-ever at-bat at Fenway, highlighted a 10-run Boston rally that chased Minnesota starter Joe Mays.

Just as encouraging for Red Sox fans yesterday was the effort of starter Ramon Martinez, Pedro's brother, who pitched well after a rough outing in his first start of the season last week.

Against the Twins, Ramon went five innings, allowing just one run and earning the win.

The Sox have now crept within one game of .500, a mark that can be reached today when Boston puts its longest winning streak of the season (two games) on the line in the second game of a three-game series with the Twins.

Having scored an Opening Day win in convincing fashion, the Red Sox may once again have raised expectations among their masochistic fan base. Whether they can live up to their own promise remains to be seen.

At the very least, the roller-coaster ride that will surely unfurl in the months ahead will provide Sox fans with a summer's worth of excitement.

At best, yesterday's home win will prove the first in a championship season.

Wishful thinking? Perhaps not.

Curses, after all, were made to be broken.